Review that Gets Noah Right: It Ain't about the Bible!

UPDATE 4/3: There's been a lot of chatter about Mattson's article and a rebuttal from Peter Chattaway with a video response to his critics and a written one by Dr. Mattson. What do you think? Personally, I'm still not forking out ten bucks to see this film.

Sympathy for the Devil by Dr. Brian Mattson

You need to read this review of Noah. In fact, you need to read it twice, maybe even three times to understand the evil roots of Darren Aronofsky's film. It ain't about the Bible...

...It's about gnosticism. Here's just a bit from New Advent's description of gnosticism:

[Gnosticism is] utter pessimism, bemoaning the existence of the whole universe as a corruption and a calamity, with a feverish craving to be freed from the body of this death and a mad hope that, if we only knew, we could by some mystic words undo the cursed spell of this existence — this is the foundation of all Gnostic thought.... Gnosticism is pseudo-intellectual, and trusts exclusively to magical knowledge.

And this is what Dr. Mattson says about gnosticism in his review:

But here’s a little “Gnosticism 101” for you: the Creator of the material world is an ignorant, arrogant, jealous, exclusive, violent, low-level, bastard son of a low level deity. He’s responsible for creating the “unspiritual” world of flesh and matter, and he himself is so ignorant of the spiritual world he fancies himself the “only God” and demands absolute obedience. They generally call him “Yahweh.” Or other names, too (Ialdabaoth, for example). 

This Creator tries to keep Adam and Eve [who are non material spiritual beings] from the true knowledge of the divine and, when they disobey, flies into a rage and boots them from the garden. 

In other words, in case you’re losing the plot here: The serpent was right all along. This “god,” “The Creator,” whom they are worshiping is withholding something from them that the serpent will provide: divinity itself. 

The world of Gnostic mysticism is bewildering with a myriad of varieties. But, generally speaking, they hold in common that the serpent is “Sophia,” “Mother,” or “Wisdom.” The serpent represents the true divine, and the claims of “The Creator” are false. 

Read the review and see all the links to satanic texts and how they are illustrated in the film. It is compelling and horrifying that this is being passed off as something Christians should support!

Here's how Dr. Mattson sums it all up:

Darren Aronofsky has produced a retelling of the Noah story without reference to the Bible at all. This was not, as he claimed, just a storied tradition of run-of-the-mill Jewish “Midrash.” This was a thoroughly pagan retelling of the Noah story direct from Kabbalist and Gnostic sources. To my mind, there is simply no doubt about this. 

So let me tell you what the real scandal in all of this is....

The scandal is this: of all the Christian leaders who went to great lengths to endorse this movie (for whatever reasons: “it’s a conversation starter,” “at least Hollywood is doing something on the Bible,” etc.), and all of the Christian leaders who panned it for “not following the Bible”…
Not one of them could identify a blatantly Gnostic subversion of the biblical story when it was right in front of their faces. 

I believe Aronofsky did it as an experiment to make fools of us: “You are so ignorant that I can put Noah (granted, it's Russell Crowe!) up on the big screen and portray him literally as the ‘seed of the Serpent’ and you all will watch my studio’s screening and endorse it.”
He’s having quite the laugh. And shame on everyone who bought it. 

And what a Gnostic experiment! In Gnosticism, only the "elite" are "in the know" and have the secret knowledge. Everybody else are dupes and ignorant fools. The "event" of this movie is intended to illustrate the Gnostic premise. We are dupes and fools. Would Christendom awake, please? 

In response, I have one simple suggestion: 

Henceforth, not a single seminary degree is granted unless the student demonstrates that he has read, digested, and understood Irenaeus of Lyon’s Against Heresies.Because it's the 2nd century all over again.

Postscript
Some readers may think I'm being hard on people for not noticing the Gnosticism at the heart of this film. I am not expecting rank-and-file viewers to notice these things. I would expect exactly what we've seen: head-scratching confusion. I've got a whole different standard for Christian leaders: college and seminary professors, pastors, and Ph.Ds. If a serpent skin wrapped around the arm of a godly Bible character doesn't set off any alarms... I don't know what to say.

It's a good thing to study and understand about gnosticism. I've spent the last twenty years fighting the battle for the faith. And as I read Dr. Mattson's article I kept nodding my head recognizing the gnostic nuns described by Donna Steichen in Ungodly Rage. Don't be taken in by heretics with their secret knowledge who hate us, but hate God first.